Landrunner Jeep Conversion

Every Jeep Wrangler owner knows the problem of upgrading to larger-than-stock off-road tires. Not only do they throw a lot of mud on the sides and into the cabin—even if you gain fender flares—but you may also need to install a lift kit to add enough fender clearance. The new Landrunner Jeep conversion addresses those problems with an innovative approach. Instead of lifting the vehicle, this body conversion has much taller fenders, which maintains the vehicle's stock CG (center of gravity) for better stability, which is also enhanced by the wider stance of the off-road tires. In addition, these Hummer-esque integrated fenders do a better job of deflecting mud and debris.

Arroyo Seco
We can speak from experience, having run several Landrunners on the rugged terrain on the southern tip of the Baja peninsula, near Cabo San Lucas. In recent years, this famous Mecca for sport-fishers and cruise-ship tourists has transformed itself from a sleepy little fishing village into a world-class resort. If you head a few miles inland, though (away from the improbably green golf courses and sugar-sand beaches), the clock seems to have been turned back decades. Ranches and settlements are accessible at best by desert trails, or more often rutted arroyos (dry streambeds), an ideal environment to test the Landrunner's capabilities.


Recent hurricanes had the normally dry riverbeds filled with muddy water, so we had a great opportunity to see how well the Landrunner's wide fenders overlapped the Pro Comp Xterrain 31x12.5-inch tires. Also along for the same trail ride was a standard TJ with the same size tires. It was startling to see how much more dirt and debris ended up on both the sides and interior of the non-Landrunner model. That grimy Jeep looked as if it had gone through a mud bath, while the Landrunners were comparatively clean, at least from the waist up.


Out in the arroyos and blasting over the dunes, the wide tires floated nicely over sandy soil. The only time dust became noticeable was when we kicked it up at high speed in hard turns. The Landrunner's extra tire clearance proved itself when we went rock-crawling in a riverbed and also fording a stream that had created deep ruts across the middle of the road.


The Landrunner's skid-plate on the front bumper also came in handy after punching the throttle a bit too aggressively to climb up a sand berm. Instead of climbing over it, we plowed through, but the Landrunner took it in stride, shaving off a foot of sand in the process. Running in the wet, we bogged down several times while trying to cross a river. That gave us an excuse to test the winches, which pulled us out of the muddy goo in short order.